ISIS launches attack on Syrian army air base: activists

BEIRUT: At least 19 Syrian soldiers and militiamen were killed when ISIS attacked one of the government's last remaining strongholds in the country's east, activists said Thursday.

The al-Qaeda offshoot ISIS has been gradually consolidating control of Syria's oil-producing Deir al-Zor province this year, but President Bashar Assad's forces have held on to several areas including the local military air base.